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In Tarrant County Commissioner’s Court Tuesday morning, the public health director raised concerns about the number of mosquitoes carrying West Nile virus.
“The first thing that worries me is mosquito activity. Certainly the positivity rate for mosquitoes has been quite high in Tarrant County,” said Vinny Taneja, Tarrant County public health director. “We peaked at almost 60 percent of mosquito pools testing positive in northeast Tarrant County, for the entire county 40 percent were positive.”
He said the county had “increased” its ground spraying efforts to three nights in a row within a mile radius of mosquito traps.
The county said the best time to spray is in the evening when mosquitoes are flying. Taneja said this is when the chemical is most effective, but they have to wait until late at night to spray when people are not around.
Taneja said she discovered the mosquitoes were resting late at night, raising an issue of the chemical’s effectiveness. The other problem is the lack of reach of the chemical.
“The problem is when the trucks are going around they are spraying on the street and you have the building structure of your house in the way,” Taneja said. “What we’re finding though is that a lot of the people who live in private backyards backed by a tree line or a stream, and this chemical as applied, may not get there. ”
The county is considering aerial spraying as a means of controlling aerial mosquitoes to reach these places. Taneja said a different chemical is used that helps kill mosquitoes in vegetation.
“It’s a little heavier powdery-type stuff, if you will, that will fall to the ground but has a very good efficiency, and if you do an aerial application you can cover all the areas that a truck cannot. not reach, ”he explained.
Taneja said the county is doing due diligence to explore this option.
“If you have aerial and ground spraying then it’s better efficiency, both have their values have their two challenges, so you have to use all the tools provided to get the job done,” Taneja said.
He said they were thinking about the environment and wondering how the chemical could impact bees.
“When and if this conversation takes place, we will involve all beekeepers in the area, just to make sure we understand where their businesses are, instructing them on how to protect their hives, or often if we can. avoid the area, we would avoid the area. So all of these efforts are part of our due diligence program that I was talking about, be sure to tell all of our partners that if this happens how can we make it work safely for everyone, ”said Taneja.
The county is in the process of reaching out to municipal managers in the county and determining how much it would cost.
During Tuesday’s meeting, he told the court that they had had conversations with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Texas Department of State Health Services about this option.
He said the idea was still premature.
A spokesperson for the Tarrant County Public Health Department said it was not known when and if the county had previously used the method. If they did, the county said it was at least ten years ago.
The last time an aerial spraying occurred in North Texas was in 2012 in Dallas County.
Tenaja said that in the meantime, they have asked all their partners and individuals in town to help them control the mosquitoes themselves, including regular spraying. He thinks it works but says the numbers are still high.
“In the northeast we have dropped to 50% positivity rate and in the rest of the county to around 35%, but we’re still pretty high and they stay high for a long time,” Tenaja said.
He said this results in infected mosquitoes biting people and that they have seen human cases “increase”.
“Last week when I spoke to the commissioner’s court we only had two cases and one was a death, well today we have nine cases, seven of them occurred within two days yesterday and today, so it’s worrying that we are starting and trending upward, ”he said.
Taneja said they are seeing more severe cases than mild cases and believes people who have a symptom of fever may think they have COVID-19. He said people can get tested, test negative and then stay home. Taneja is concerned that there is an underreporting.
Public health officials are reminding people to eliminate standing water, limit time outdoors at night, and, if you must be outdoors, wear long sleeves and bug spray.
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